The Truth of Our Faith [Paperback]

Elder Cleopa of Romania (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

...The material consists of a series of dialogues drawn from Father Cleopa¹s conversations with many inquirers about the Eastern Orthodox faith. -- Book Review for Touchstone Magazine, February 2001

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Uncut Mountain Press (January 1, 2001)
• ISBN-10: 9608677807
• ISBN-13: 978-9608677807
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,135,355 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Monastic Wisdom, June 28, 2001

By 

Moses Alexander (Alabama, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Truth of Our Faith (Paperback)

"The Truth of Our Faith" by Elder Cleopa of Romania is an excellent Q&A between Elder Cleopa and inquirers about the Orthodox faith. In addition to the preface and a brief prologue about Elder Cleopa's life, there is an introduction by Elder Cleopa himself about his goals for the book. The main part of the book is broken down into 19 sections/chapters on different topics. It covers some of the Orthodox Church's teachings on the Virgin Mary and the Church's use of icons. The Elder also answers questions about fasting, the Second Coming, and speaking in tongues.

The Elder's tone is warm and simple, although he speaks unequivocally on issues in today's world of relativsm. His in depth knowledge of the Bible is awe-inspiring and there are tons of references (thankfully the footnotes aren't done in an academic fashion that is distracting.)

This is an excellent place for those that know something about Orthodoxy to probe deeper. Even though its not an ideal place for one to start reading about Orthodoxy...it would still be readily understood by one that knows virtually nothing of the Christian East. (The ideal place to learn about Orthodoxy is an Orthodox Church.) People that enjoyed St. Theophan the Recluse's "The Spiritual Life and How to be Attuned to It" or his "Path to Salvation" or Elder Joseph the Hesychast's "Monastic Wisdom" should enjoy this as it is in similar format. Not only that all these works share the fact that they were written out of love for the world by very holy men. Overall...highly recommended.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The subtitle says it all!, August 21, 2003

By 

Ryan L. Shelton "MountZionRyan" (Norris, TN United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Truth of Our Faith (Paperback)

One thing I enjoy about reading books by Orthodox Elders is that there is often a simplicity about their words, not a simple-mindedness, but a directness and brevity that blow like a cool breeze into the heart. The Holy Elders tend not to mince words and the result is closer to poetry than prose. Elder Cleopa's book is not particularly poetic (hence 4 instead of 5 stars), but it does have the fragrance of fresh directness and brevity-simplicity.
Elder Cleopa is part of what Bishop Kallistos Ware calls the spiritual apostolic succession and St. Symeon the New Theologian calls "the Golden Chain." Elder Cleopa was tonsured into monastic life at 17, persecuted by the Romanian Communist regime, and was, for most of his life, known throughout Romania as a Spiritual Elder (Russian staretz, Greek geronta). Before Elder Cleopa's text, there are two prologues and an introduction. I urge you to read these. The second prologue is a delightful and spiritually refreshing biography of Elder Cleopa, a reminder that there are indeed Saints in our own times (Elder Cleopa reposed in 1998).
The meat of the book is 19 chapters on basic tenets of Christian Orthodoxy (as the subtitle indicates). These range from "On the Church," and "On the Veneration of Saints and Angels," to "On the Second Coming of Christ," and "On Magic and Occultism." Each chapter is a dialogue between Elder Cleopa and an anonymous "Inquirer." Often times the Inquirer's question or argument is obviously outside of Orthodox belief, however, the Blessed Elder gives patient answers to each question. This question-and-answer is not a Socratic dialogue where the Inquirer led along to discover the Truth for himself. There is no confusion that Elder Cleopa is the "father" and the Inquirer the "child."
What makes this book so wonderful is that the dialogues are entirely within the context of Holy Scripture. Elder Cleopa defends Orthodoxy by referring to the Old and New Testaments. This is not to marginalize Holy Tradition, but, due to the emphasis given Scripture by his Inquirer, (and often those who inquire of us at work, at home, or anywhere), the Elder answers from that same emphasis. Hence, this book could be a kind of Biblical concordance on Orthodox belief with extensive commentary. However, Elder Cleopa's gentle tone keeps the discourses from being dry academic exercises. For anyone wondering about the scriptural basis/reference for some part of Orthodoxy this is a splendid book. The Truth of Our Faith is not only an enlightening book for the Scripturally weak (myself included), it is also a good way to better equip oneself to share the Good News of Jesus Christ.
This is a book I would recommend to a biblically minded Protestant who was looking into Orthodoxy or an Orthodox reader wanting to be better acquainted with his or her faith.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Grace-ful Conversations with a True Christian, February 21, 2001

By 

Vincent Rossi - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Truth of Our Faith (Paperback)

Imagine the holiest person you can think of, according to the highest standard of holiness you possess (mine is that of the great saints of the early Church, like St. John the Evangelist, St. Polycarp of Smyrna or St. Anthony the Great (the father of monasticism) or of more recent saints like Seraphim of Sarov). Now imagine you were able to sit down and have a whole series of conversations with this saint, and in the course of your discussions, you could ask him all the burning questions that beset you as you struggle to live your Christian faith in the contemporary world; and, miracle of miracles, he was interested enough in your questions to give as much of his precious time to answer them as fully as possible and with all the depth of the hard-won knowledge of his spiritual experience and the God-given grace of wisdom he possesses. This is exactly what you will be getting when you open the pages of this wonderful book.

Elder Cleopa was a living saint who died only in 1998. He was a man of our own time and gave a great deal of his last years to teaching contemporary people the timeless truths of the Christian faith. He was that rarest of rarities, a true Christian who lived the life of the Gospel as fully as is possible on earth. His discussions with seekers about virtually every important aspect of the faith are invaluable. Both simple and profound, his insights pierce to the very heart of what it means to be an Orthodox Christian, and how a believer can deepen his or her faith to the ultimate level. This is a book that is truly invaluable. It has only one flaw--it comes to an end. But then you can always read it again and be reinspired. Definitely five stars and then some!